Like Eric Mangini and a number of the Jets players, Matt Chatham sat back on Sunday night and watched the Patriots lose to the Colts in Foxborough in the most ballyhooed match-up of the week.

Unlike his teammates, though, Chatham watched with a bit of a knot in his stomach.

As a former Patriot, Chatham, though delighted to see the Jets’ division rivals falter, knows better than most about what to expect now when the Jets go to Foxborough Sunday to play the Patriots.

“It was kind of hard watching the game last night, knowing I needed them to lose to have a loss in the division, but also knowing we had to play them a week after the loss,” the Jets linebacker said yesterday. “You don’t want them to get another game up on us in the division, but they’re dangerous in this situation.” Dangerous might not even do justice to describe how tough the Patriots are to play after they’ve lost a game.

Historic is more like it.

Under Bill Belichick’s watch dating back to 2002, the Patriots have gone 57 games without losing two games in a row.

Since the NFL merger, that’s the secondlongest such streak in league history, three games shy of the 49ers’ 60-game streak without a two-game losing streak from 1995-1999.

During that span, the Patriots are 11-0 in games played after a loss.

Since Belichick took over the reins in New England in 2000, the Patriots have been the model of bouncing back. In 2000, when New England finished 5-11 (its only losing season under Belichick), the Patriots endured two four-game losing streaks.

Since then, though, they’ve lost consecutive games only three times. Oddly, two of those times included the Jets. In 2001, they lost their first two games of the season, the second of which came to the Jets in Foxborough. In 2002, they lost to the Titans on Dec. 16 and again at home against the Jets on Dec. 22.

That, however, marked the last time Belichick’s Patriots have lost consecutive games.

“They’re always scary after a loss; they don’t lose two in a row,” Chatham said.

“Their whole organization is predicated on correcting mistakes. Their big thing is being consistent, learning from what you’ve done and moving on. Anytime they make mistakes, they’re the quickest in the league and turn around to make those adjustments and move ahead.” That said, Chatham described exactly what the Jets will face Sunday against the Patriots coming off their loss to the Colts:

“You know you’re just going to get that much more focused as a group. That’s their strong point. They’ll come in very, very focused and very educated about what caused them to lose last week.” Mangini, who joked he “happened to catch” the Patriots-Colts game, didn’t really acknowledge the Patriots’ remarkable propensity for bouncing back, though he was a part of that for several years as a Belichick assistant.

“I think that win or lose, it’s always challenging to play on the road, play in the division and play a team that has been as successful as the Patriots have been in the division,” he said. “Win or lose, they would be a good challenge for us especially at that place.” Jets WR Laveranues Coles said, “You generally are what your track record says.

Three Super Bowls. They’re basically considered one of the dynasties. You look at them and the way they’ve been winning this year . . . they have a winning team and they have a great attitude. We have to go into their home and try to beat them. We know we have a great challenge ahead of us.” No one knows that challenge better than Chatham, who was a part of that winning tradition in New England before coming to the Jets this season.

“There is just an aura there,” Chatham said of Foxborough. “You’re going to go up there and there are going to be those three big (Super Bowl championship) banners hanging up in the end zone. There’s just that elevated expectation for them to win and usually they do, so it’s a difficult place to play.” Especially after a Patriots loss.